


Blood, Magic, and Bullets

by Gallicenae



Series: Misc Fic Gifts [3]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: All the Templars are mages, Cliffhanger, Cyber Warfare, Gen, Grey Wardens, Knight-Enchanter, Mages and Templars, Modern Thedas, Modern Thedas AU, Role switch AU, enchantment!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-17
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-23 01:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8309257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gallicenae/pseuds/Gallicenae
Summary: Set in Modern Thedas with class role switches. Cullen, Fenris, Hawke, and Carver intercede at Weisshaupt to prevent the Wardens from pulling a coup over the ruling Hossberg monarchy. The Blight is a group of antagonists serial hackers specializing in cyber warfare and techno-organic viruses. Cullen is a knight-enchanter Templar, Fenris is a reaver mage, Hawke is a munitions tank, and Carver is a sniper rogue.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ivy_Adair](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ivy_Adair/gifts).



> This is a ficswap for Ivy_Adair and features her custom Inquisitor and Hawke. The fic kind of ran away with me. I may consider turning it into a series at some point down the road. :)

“What do you have for me today, Leliana?” Isolde closed the door behind her, eagerly striding up to the large, transparent screens circling her intelligence advisor.

Leliana barely stole her attention away from the monitors, caught up in keeping tabs on a mission currently in progress. “There’s talk of a coup in the Anderfels. The Wardens most like. Josie?”

Josephine’s head shot up from behind her laptop, glasses perched above her nose. “Yes. A-a moment...” Her head disappeared before a rustling of papers and manilla folders announced the ambassador had just had the information at her fingertips. Somewhere.

Isolde shook her head, amused by how off guard she had caught her staff. Her general was on the far said of the room, a hand worrying at his chin while he listened to whoever was on the other line of his call. He cupped the phone against his ear and shoulder as he scribbled notes on a piece of paper before looking up and giving Isolde a nod that said he’d be with her in a minute.

“Aha!” A manilla folder rose triumphantly above the chaos as Josephine stood to deliver it. She adjusted her suit before rushing the file over to Isolde, who took it gladly as Josephine debriefed her on the potential situation.

“We’ve received information that the First Warden is setting up his troops for a military coup to oust the ruling Hossberg monarchy. Though the king is little more than a figurehead at this point, the Wardens have been the largest threat to the political stability of the region for the last forty years.” Josephine peered at the data sheets in Isolde’s hands, giving the Inquisitor time to formulate any questions she might have.

“So we’re concerned about the Wardens again? When was the last-”

“Twenty-two years. A sighting of Blight swept through the net, and there was an onslaught of new viruses attacking systems across Thedas. The Wardens wouldn’t intercede until they were allowed certain, shall we say _privileges._ ” 

“Are we assuming the First Warden was responsible for those requests?”

“Of course he was!” Leliana’s voice carried a poisonous edge. “It positioned him perfectly to follow through with this undertaking. As if stationing pockets of Wardens within Hossberg was really to aid its citizens.” She scoffed before flicking her wrist to call up a new set of screens.

Isolde encouraged Josephine to continue, giving Cullen a smile as he hung up the phone and joined them.

“Anyhow, we received an anonymous request to intercede on behalf of the monarchy to ensure Weisshaupt has no future plans to move on the capital.”

“What about our contacts in the Wardens? Are they still active?” 

“Yes, General.” Leliana pulled up a set of profiles and reversed the screen so they faced Cullen and Isolde. “Hawke, Marissa. Still active via her contact with Stroud. Last seen in Antiva three weeks ago with her companion, Fenris. Hawke, Carver. Primarily active in the Warden underground. Last seen forty-eight hours ago in the Free March Republic.”

“Has the younger one’s temperament improved?” Cullen was wary of including the brother on this mission.

Leliana scrolled through a recent history hacked from a Warden outpost. “Two disorderly conducts a year ago, five demerits over the course of a month - all for reckless behavior, otherwise clean in the last eight months.”

“Think we can trust him?” Isolde directed the question toward Cullen, whose face was still shadowed with the deliberation of the mission.

“His sister will be there to keep him in line if need be, though I’m not sure how seriously she would take this request.” Cullen mused.

“Well, what if you go?”  
  
Cullen balked. “What?”

“You. What if you go with them? You know exactly what needs to be done and the most diplomatic way in which to address the issue.”

“But-”

“You can see that the Hawkes do what is required and that the Inquisition’s interests are enacted.” Isolde smiled broadly, pleased with her idea. “It’s perfect!”

\---

“I’m impressed you were able to secure us passage beneath Orzammar, General.” Fenris fastened his fingerless, lyrium-infused gloves, stretching his digits to adjust to the fresh infusion of chemicals to his blood-stream. 

Cullen handed over several credits to the conductor as he boarded the train after the elf. “It was _supposed_ to be for four, not two.”

Fenris shrugged, ignoring the stares they were receiving from the dwarven populace already aboard. “She’ll be there.” He took a seat, leaned his head back against the window, and closed his eyes.

“And Carver?” Cullen took up a position against one of the support poles near Fenris, not wanting to impose more than they already were by claiming an additional seat.

A low chuckle came in response. “He knows how to follow orders.”

The subway lurched forward, the passengers all shifting with the movement, before continuing on at a smoother pace. The lights of the thaig cast a warm glow through windows, creating the illusion that they weren’t thousands of feet underground and heading deeper into the mountains across Thedas.

\---

The bedrock glowed blue as they disembarked at Kal-Sharok, the locals eyeing the two of them suspiciously. It was by far the most reclusive of the dwarven thaigs, and many claimed it was due to their number of weapons trade agreements with the various surrounding countries, primarily with the Tevine Senate.

Cullen tugged at his baton harness, ensuring his primary means of defense were still secured to his back. It wasn’t likely they would be attacked here, but Cullen ran through a mental list of how many lyrium pills he had on hand just in case. Given that magic would be of little use against an opponent this far underground, he hoped Fenris’s hand-to-hand combat skills were as good as all the reports had claimed.

“Hawke will be just outside the city doors. She’s not much a fan of the Deep.” Fenris kept an easy pace as they climbed the countless stairs, ascending into the main halls of the thaig. 

Once they had been checked over for illegal smuggling of goods and paid their departure tariff, Cullen and Fenris were able to step outside into the dry air. The sudden brightness of day brought their arms upward to shield their eyes, giving them time for their vision to adjust. Two figures approached them, one breaking away to run forward and lunge at Fenris. 

He leaned into the approach and caught Hawke by her wrists, deterring whatever advances she might have had in mind. The elf smirked. 

“You’re late.” She chided.

Cullen interrupted, “The search was unexpected.”

Marissa raised her eyebrows coyly and was about to say a particularly lewd comment when Carver caught up with the three of them.

“Fenris. General Rutherford.” 

“C-”

“It’s Lieutenant actually.”

Cullen caught Hawke rolling her eyes, but putting a hand on her younger brother’s shoulder regardless. “Yes. Yes. Yes. You’re a military man now, outranking me and everything.”

Carver's jaw tightened. “I would hardly call ‘vigilante’ a rank.”

“Still.” She ruffled his hair playfully and put her hands on her hips. “We should be able to make it to Hossberg by nightfall if we leave now.”

“Being this close to the Tevinter border will be an issue for them, Marissa.”

Hawke shrugged. “Eh, I have a trunk full of guns in the car. They won’t look suspicious if they have actual weapons on them.” She headed off down the trail to start the car.

Carver looked Cullen up and down, clearly displeased with the general’s overall appearance. “You _look_ fresh.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s obvious what you are.” Carver came closer to Cullen, circling him to examine the batons latched to his back. “You carry yourself like one.” He gave Cullen a light punch to the chest. “All knight-enchanters in the Order look like you. Slouch for Maker’s sake!”

“Why?”

Fenris leaned over and whispered, “Within the last few weeks Tevinter mages have been... _acquiring_ Order mages from bordering countries. Hawke and I have been trying to follow a few leads, but we’ve been unable to catch anything concrete.”

Carver removed the batons from Cullen’s back, urging him to take off the harness as well. “We have something in the car that will be far more useful, and far less obvious.” He nodded toward Fenris’s gloves. “Something like those.”

\---

The ragged hoodie was smaller than he would have liked, but Cullen felt the bracers were far worse. Discomfort was putting it mildly. Each had a compartment full of lyrium on the underside of his arm, with needles that had direct access to his veins. The top of each bracer contained a separate compartment for a small but formidable baton that could be extended when the need arose. Cullen pumped his fists, getting used to the sudden direct intake of lyrium.

“We’re nearly there.” Hawke kept her eyes on the darkened road. “But I seriously doubt the Warden is ignorant of our arrival. Well. _Yours_ anyway.” 

Carver turned around to lean toward the two in the backseat. “One of the gains of stopping the last wave of Blight was to place contingents in the Deep. The official statement is to hunt the members of Blight, but you’d be a fool to think they weren’t in Kal-Sharok to oversee weapon developments in an alliance with the Tevine Senate.”

Cullen caught Hawke’s eye in the rearview. These movements were unprecedented for the Wardens. They had been a task force set up to combat Blight resurgences, but within the last several decades they had become more politically inclined to power. And with their burgeoning ties to Tevinter, Cullen had doubts concerning how well the Inquisition would be able to quash an uprising.

“We need a plan.”

\---

They left Carver just outside Hossberg, Fenris taking his seat in the front beside Hawke.  He made a quip about Carver’s running speed, and Marissa laughed as she continued driving toward the center of town. 

The group parked in an empty public lot downtown, sure to be full come the morning. A couple of the lamps leaned at odd angles and another flickered half-heartedly. It was safe to say the lit windows of business centers were a result of a tired employee forgetting to turn the lights off. 

Marissa shut down the engine and popped the trunk. She fitted herself with several harnesses before reaching for the myriad of firearms at her disposal. Fenris checked his lyrium levels and added a few pill packs to his pockets. 

Being sure to take Carver’s advice and hunch his shoulders, Cullen got out of the car. He looked at Marissa in awe. “Are you really going to use all of those?” She could be a one-woman gun show with the sheer amount of fire power strapped to her body.

“What? You want one?”

“Wha- no, I just... that’s ehm... You’re very well-prepared.”

“Have to be, don’t I? You and Fenris have all the supernatural shit. What’s a girl to do if she doesn’t have Little B?” Marissa fondly stroked her largest piece of munition. 

They finished their preparation and headed in the direction Carver had mentioned. It was purported to house an undocumented Warden way-station, likely with surveillance of the area directly linked to Weisshaupt, only an hour’s ride away. 

“Showtime.” Marissa hit the button on her keyring and locked the car doors.

\---

“I can’t believe you managed to talk me into this, Hawke.” Fenris was pulling at the collar of his pilfered shirt, frowning beneath the blue beret atop his head. “They probably already have our faces on file anyway.”

“If the Wardens are as invested in a power grab as we think, that’s very likely true.”

“That doesn’t matter. Shifts go in and out of Weisshaupt all the time. We’ve seen as much.” Marissa stood straighter. “Just fall in line with a group and we’ll be in. That’s all we need, as long as the General here remembered to short-circuit the surveillance.”

“Have no fear of that.”  
  
“I don’t.” Hawke led them into formation with a unit returning to Weisshaupt. They kept their eyes low, focusing on aligning their footwork with their new comrades. 

It didn’t take them long to advance through the reinforced medieval walls and head with the rest of the troupe toward the modern barracks. They slipped out slowly, one at a time, regrouping just outside the mess hall before venturing into the central building with their swiped IDs. 

Cullen pulled up the schematics Leliana had forwarded to his phone. “Private chambers are three floors up on the North side, first hallway to the left, fifth door.” 

They moved swiftly through the empty corridors, Cullen short-circuiting any doors that wouldn’t allow them initial access. Fenris pulled them up cold as they reached their targeted hallway. He motioned that there were guards just outside one of the doors. Hawke poked her head around the corner and withdrew it smiling. She winked at her companions as she fitted a silencer to one of her smaller guns. She loaded a clip of purple capsules and eased the barrel into shooting position.

Marissa gave the all clear and turned the corner to examine her handiwork. The two guards had been immobilized, frozen in place by the chemicals in her chosen ammo. “They’re asleep, but they’re still standing.”

“They’re eyes are still open.” Cullen waved a hand in front of one of guards.

“Yep, but they’ll think this is a dream. You probably look like a giant spider to them right now or something.”

Fenris took off his beret and hung it off of the other guard’s shoulder, pulling out a pair of dark goggles to take their place. “Sandal’s skills continue to surprise.”

“Right?!” 

“Focus, Hawke.” Cullen pulled the dual keycards from the guards and swiped them against the door.

As Marissa stepped through the entryway, Little B at the ready, a gravelly voice greeted them from behind a wall of heavily armed soldiers. “Hello again, Hawke. I see you brought me gifts.”

Cullen’s arm lowered Hawke’s weapon as he stepped up beside her. “First Warden.”

“General Rutherford. It is a pleasure to finally meet the man who was responsible for the expulsion of Templar Warriors from the Order. As you can imagine, I managed to recruit several into my ranks. Fine soldiers.”

Cullen remained silent. 

The man was grizzled, his skin spotted from the ravages of one of Blight’s techno-organic viruses. His right eye was a milky white, blinded from a battle during the early years of his service to the Wardens. He walked calmly forward with only the slightest evidence of a limp. Two soldiers mirrored his movement and joined him at his side.

“I did not believe the Inquisition would be so fool-hardy as to walk uninvited into my own home.” He stared at each of them in turn, leaving his good eye to gaze at Fenris the longest. “And you, did you come to finish what you started, mage?”

Fenris lowered himself into a feral posture, his muscles tense with the desire to strike. Cullen turned his attention to his companions, both stirring with looks of vengeance rather than diplomacy for this encounter. Was this why neither of them had any qualms about participating in the mission?

“Hawke-”

She didn’t even look at him as she raised her gun once more. “No offense, General, but we’re not exactly here on your terms.” She took aim, a finger brushing over a button that clicked into place, as she readied her trigger. “Best shut your eyes.”

A beam of blinding light wrapped around the room, warbling with the captive magic it wielded. Cullen was blown back, unprepared for the aftershock that emanated from Hawke. He saw a flash of white and blue slide beneath the wave. It was Fenris, weaving his magic into reaver’s claws, slashing and devouring the blood of his prey to make him stronger. 

Cullen stabilized himself and rose to his feet, flexing his wrists to release the batons in his bracers. His magic summoned the spirit blades to their new hilts, in time to block an incoming enemy’s electric bayonet. Cullen stepped back, letting his opponent in before straightening his posture and forcing him back, the man tumbled to the floor where he was met with a bullet from Hawke’s gun.

It was chaos, blood, magic, and bullets. The First Warden was somehow holding his own against Fenris’s advances, tech-enhanced as he probably was. In these close quarters with allies, Hawke had resorted to a variety of sticky elemental grenades, holding off the brunt of the First Warden’s guard. Cullen was cutting his way through the enemies guarding the Warden’s back.

Fenris’s claws latched onto the First Warden’s shoulder, sinking in and leeching the blood from the wound. Cullen threw himself against Fenris, knocking the elf away into a nearby wall. The Warden turned on Cullen, grabbing his shirt with a steel grip and raising him off the floor. Cullen swung his blades upward, coming into contact with the metal of the man’s arm. The grip loosened enough for Cullen to touch the floor and swing their combined weight, pivoting toward the windows.

The Warden, caught off balance, fell to the floor, a spirit blade against the man’s throat. “You can’t kill me.” He coughed out a laugh. “The Blight made certain of that.”

Cullen sat back. The pair of red dots lining up against the First Warden’s skull and chest. The man’s eyes narrowed, challenging. 

“My sniper has his sights on your immortality, Warden. The bullets that come through that glass contain Fade tech. Combined with the spirit energy of this blade, and it will shut down your programming and your life - permanently.” Cullen let the man swallow that information for a moment. “You are not irreplaceable. And if you do not agree to our offer, well, I’m sure you can put two and two together.”

\---

“Have fun, General?”

“I’m sure your spies could tell you all about it Leliana.” Cullen held the door to the control center open for his colleague.

“You’ll need to write up a report for the Inquisitor’s debriefing. And clear Carver’s assignment with her as well.”

“Don’t you mean clear it with you?”

Leliana gave him a sly look, a grin playing at the corners of her lips. “That depends if you want to keep him as open military or not. But if you’re that keen on the boy, we can always share him.”

Cullen let out an exasperated sigh. “Send me the paperwork and I’ll get him cleared for duty this afternoon.”

“How generous of you.” 

“Indeed.” 

“The First Warden?”

“He’s ours. The bluff was a good one, remind me to thank you for that.” Cullen went to his desk to check his inbox. Several from the last few days of his absence, a couple from Isolde, one from Hawke claiming the adventure had been fun, and another from an unknown sender.

“Leliana, I thought you put filters on all of our software.”

“I have.” She walked over to his desk to check on the issue. “They’re recalculated, randomized, and refreshed every...” Her eyes narrowed. “Baron?”

A digitized voice emerged from the room’s speakers. “Yes, mistress?”

“Transfer all data and metadata from the General’s inbox to the Void. Quarantine his mainframe. Add level 5 Firewalls to all systems.”

“Yes, mistress.”

Cullen’s screen shivered momentarily and then Baron’s voice stated the task was complete.

“Open it.”

Cullen double-clicked the message. The screen went black. A single line of text appeared. 

_He was only the beginning._

The phrase was repeated over and over again across the screen with increasing frequency before dissolving into the symbol that struck fear into the hearts of all across Thedas: the dragon’s skull.

 


End file.
